Cybercrime incidents targeting financial accounts are increasing this year, with the FBI reporting that attackers are posing as financial institutions to steal money and sensitive information. The agency said these Cybercrime schemes have caused losses of more than $262 million since the start of the year and have generated over 5100 complaints from individuals, businesses and organizations across sectors.
Accounts takeover fraud involves gaining unauthorized access to online financial accounts, payroll systems or health savings accounts to steal data and funds. Criminals often use social engineering through texts, calls and emails to create fear and push victims toward fake sites. They trick users into entering their login details and sometimes into clicking links to report supposed fraudulent transactions. According to the FBI, attackers convince victims to reveal their login credentials including an MFA code or OTP by pretending to be customer support or technical support staff. Once they access the real banking site, they reset passwords and gain full control. Some schemes involve Cybercrime criminals pretending to be financial institutions reporting false purchases and then directing victims to another criminal pretending to be law enforcement.
Attackers also use SEO poisoning that leads users searching for businesses to fraudulent links designed to look authentic. After taking control of accounts, criminals quickly move money to accounts they control and then transfer the funds to cryptocurrency wallets to hide the trail. The FBI urges users to limit personal details shared online, monitor financial activity, use strong passwords, check website URLs and stay alert for phishing and suspicious callers. The agency warned that sharing personal information such as pet names, dates of birth or school details can help criminals guess passwords or security answers in these growing Cybercrime cases. A security expert noted that most cases stem from compromised credentials and said manual verification through calls and SMS is among the strongest defences, while password-less options remain underused.
Cybersecurity companies have also highlighted growing threats during the holiday season, including scams linked to online shopping events, QR code fraud, gift card draining and large-scale phishing that copies brands like Amazon and Temu. They reported at least 750 malicious holiday-themed domains in the past three months and found more than 1.57 million compromised login accounts on underground markets. Attackers are also exploiting security issues in major ecommerce platforms and researchers noted a fourfold rise in mobile phishing sites that use trusted brand names to deceive users, reflecting broader Cybercrime trends. Another company reported the rise of purchase scams where criminals build fake online stores and use multi-stage funnels that lead victims into approving fraudulent transactions. These scams provide instant financial gain and some operations attempt two consecutive fraudulent payments to increase profits. Criminals also run promotional activity on underground platforms and use stolen card details to fund ads that spread these scams and gather even more payment data, further contributing to the Cybercrime surge.
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